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JROTC in Parkland: A Hero’s Tale
In the aftermath of the shooting in Florida, like I do after tragedy in general I prefer to focus on the positive, the uplifting. One of those stories came across my newsfeed tonight:
JROTC students at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida describe how they protected students from deadly shooting by shielding them with kevlar mats. http://abcn.ws/2EwVDty
Posted by ABC News on Thursday, February 15, 2018
That didn’t stop a few partisan outlets, like Think Progress and the New York Daily News, from taking any opportunity to critize the NRA, even if it meant dragging these brave men into their crosshairs (pun intended).
The NRA donated $10,000 to help train the Parkland shooting suspect to use a rifle https://t.co/pilyHhWS0q pic.twitter.com/tk0ZLwsCnh
— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) February 17, 2018
Erick Erickson explained where that money actually went,
https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/964915510692458496
One of these brave students in Parkland didn’t put himself behind that kevlar, and didn’t come home to his parents. Jared Keller at Task & Purpose reports,
According to witnesses, the 15-year-old freshman member of the school’s JROTC program “was holding a door to let other students out before him” as suspected shooter Nikolas Cruz prowled the halls of his former alma mater, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.
[Peter] Wang was among the 17 people shot and killed by Cruz. His cousin, Lin Chen, toldthe Sun-Sentinel that Wang was wearing his standard grey JROTC shirt when he left for school that fateful morning.
On Twitter Keller reports a heartwarming development in Wang’s funeral plans, and one that hopefully Ricochet members can spread the word about:
JROTC freshman Peter Wang may not have actually served in the U.S. armed forces, but that's not stopping the members of r/military from arranging a uniformed presence at his funeral https://t.co/vtEaGuool4 pic.twitter.com/SVNZ1sUpuN
— Jared Keller (@jaredbkeller) February 17, 2018
If you or someone you know can attend Wang’s funeral in military dress (or not), this would be a meaningful sendoff for a true American hero.
Published in Military
Think Progress says something over-the-top stupid every single day. Funded in perpetuity by George Soros.
Even the dead must not escape their obligation to further the cause of the new socialist utopia. They cast ballots from the grave, and if a heroic death diminishes their goal they must be diminished as well.
I wish that I could be there to honor this brave boy. I urge any of my fellow Ricochet members who might be available to attend, in uniform if it is authorized for wear.
JROTC is an outstanding program, and deserves all the support we can give it.
At my daughter’s high school in the early 2000s, the two most senior JROTC cadets, one male, one female, calmly confronted a distraught cadet who’d arrived at school with a loaded handgun and who’d corralled 15 or so students in a portable building (where JROTC leadership classes were held); he was holding them hostage while threatening suicide.
First, the cadets convinced him to let them remain as his hostages while releasing the other students. Once they’d accomplished that, they calmly talked him down until finally, he handed one of them the weapon and fell sobbing in the other’s arms.